Stuba claims ‘better client match’ after online revamp
Lucy Huxley
Accommodation specialist Stuba has revamped its hotel search facility to enable agents to better match clients with the right properties. The trade-only website now
“curates” its inventory by lifestyle choices, such as beach, luxe, wellness and boutique, and also shows which hotels agents have booked before, as well as those “trending” – booked frequently by other agents. Chief commercial officer Matt
Stuart said: “We believe we are going to revolutionise the trade hotel search space. During the pandemic, we started reimagining things for the business; how we could differentiate Stuba and make a difference to our agent partners. “For a long time, it’s been about
how many hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of hotels a bed bank has on its site. But feedback from agents showed us they were not interested in pages of results. “Previous filters, like star rating
and board basis, were of use but quite limited and crude. Customers are being more discerning in terms of their hotel requirements and so we’ve come up with a way to look at ‘softer’ lifestyle choices and enable agents to better match
Inset: Matt Stuart
their clients to the right hotel – and help them get to it quicker.” Stuart said his developers had
designed a “really clever algorithm”, similar to that used by Netflix and Amazon Prime, to show agents hotels based on their previous choices. He added that the technology,
which has been developed in-house over the past two years, would enable agents to be more efficient and therefore more profitable, but would also make them “look like hotel gurus” in front of their clients. “This will give agents confidence
in destinations they are not familiar with. They can recommend properties
Government trumpets careers in aviation with new campaign
The government has launched an aviation recruitment and engagement campaign to encourage the next generation to enter the industry. The campaign builds on the government’s £1.5 million ‘Generation Aviation’ initiative to increase the number of people applying for jobs in the sector, and was unveiled at Heathrow’s Employment & Skills Academy.
8 3 NOVEMBER 2022
with more assurance that they’ve got a really close match,” he said. Stuart said the curation of hotels
would mean an overall reduction in the number hotels offered globally from around 130,000 to 100,000. “We’ve always taken a less-is-
more approach, and this is the next iteration of that. It’s not about quantity but quality,” he added. Stuba conducted focus groups
with the trade throughout the design process and went live with the new site on October 3. The “classic site” will remain
available until early spring 2023 for agents not yet ready to switch.
Celebrity Apex to be based in Southampton for 2024 season
Celebrity Cruises is to replace Celebrity Silhouette in Southampton with Celebrity Apex for the entire 2024 season. The Edge-series vessel will operate ex-UK sailings ranging from four to 13 nights between May and November 2024. Ibiza will be a maiden port of call for the line in the programme.
Cruise veteran Stuart Perl joins start-up river line
Industry veteran Stuart Perl has been named the UK marketing and sales lead for a new river cruise line set to launch next year. Riverside Luxury Cruises,
operated by family-owned German hotel group Seaside Collection, has one ship in its fleet, Riverside Mozart, which was acquired from Crystal Cruises in September. Passengers will be able to sail on
the ship, previously called Crystal Mozart, from April 2023. It will call at destinations including Vienna, Budapest and Passau. Perl will oversee the line’s sales
and marketing activities in the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe. His previous roles include
international sales and marketing director at Seabourn, EMEA marketing director at Cunard and, most recently, UK and Europe managing director at AmaWaterways. Perl said: “I’m so pleased to
be part of the leadership team. Riverside Mozart will become the leader in true luxury river cruising for discerning guests. We look forward to working with trade partners who would like to join us on this exciting journey.”
India acts to speed up visa process with ‘interim measures’
The Indian High Commission has introduced “interim measures” including a doorstep service to speed up the visa application process said to have left millions of bookings at risk. Visa processing centres have opened in Glasgow and London to accelerate the process after the destination stopped e-visas and demanded all applications be made in person.
travelweekly.co.uk
Stuart Perl
PICTURE: Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images
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